RUSSIAN zealots taunted Western protesters during Vladimir Putin’s elaborate Victory Day celebration just metres from Nato territory.
Giant screens showed clips from World War Two on the grounds of the Ivangorod Fortress — while Vlad said his troops were “ready” to battle the West.
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In a rambling address the tyrant, 71, hailed the supposed success of his “special military operation” in Ukraine.
But in a veiled threat he added: “Russia will do everything to avoid a global confrontation.
“But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us.
“Our strategic forces are always on combat alert.”
Putin was flanked in Moscow by officials carrying his so-called “nuclear briefcase”.
He gave the speech following a toned-down parade featuring only 9,000 troops — less than in previous years — and just one T34 Army tank.
The Red Square parade also showed off three Yars atomic missile launchers.
It comes after Moscow defence chiefs said Putin had ordered the Russian Army to prepare for “non-strategic” nuclear strikes.
They also warned British bases could become targets after Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron gave the green light for UK weapons to be used to hit targets inside Russia.
On the Russia-Estonia border, hundreds packed waterside bars to witness the celebration event marking the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union and the Allies.
A stage facility just 100 meters from Russia’s border with Estonia had hundreds of seats set up for VIP guests with a giant May 9 “Victory” logo.
Another two screens were set up metres from the riverbank, while cinema-style speakers boomed Russian procession music and transmitted speeches by military veterans and officials.
One guest even wrapped a Russian flag around himself and held it up in view of watching Estonians, while border cops continuously kept watch.
But activists on the Estonian side of the river attempted to hinder celebrations by unfurling a giant Ukrainian flag within view of the special guests.
The protest sparked a dramatic confrontation with a Russian family visiting Narva for the day and watching the Victory Day event from across the water.
The group of Russians, including a mum pushing a gold-coloured pram, took issue with the Estonian group who posed for photos beneath Narva Castle – where a giant banner proclaims Putin, 71, to be a “war criminal”.
Milan Skubi, 18, who held up the Ukrainian flag, said one of the Russians threatened him for speaking to The Sun.
He said: “The youngest, he told me, ‘If there were no police here, I would throw you in the river’.”
During their demonstration, the trio were also approached by Estonia’s military police, who told the group they could not intervene if tensions boiled over into a physical confrontation.
Milan, joined by pals Aleksei Mehailainen and Sergei Nikitin, told The Sun: “They weren’t happy that we had the Ukrainian flag.
“They told me, ‘If you like Ukraine so much, why don’t you go there.’
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“When the police came over, they told me to be careful. They said there isn’t anything they can do if things escalate.
“In the months after Ukraine was invaded a lot of people here were worried. We thought that if Russia could invade Ukraine they could invade here too.
“But now I feel more safe because Nato would protect us.”
“It isn’t just an age divide. There are old people that support Ukraine and there are young people that support Russia.
Asked about a poster branding mad tyrant Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, he added: “I support this poster because it is correct.”
Narva and Ivangorod, a town of just 10,000, are separated by a 100-metre bridge connecting Estonia and Russia.
The road crossing was more heavily monitored by gun-toting border guards after Putin invaded Ukraine and has been fully locked down with barbed wire and concrete boulders since February.
Some 96 per cent of Narva’s 60,000-strong population speak Russian as a first language while around one in four have Russian passports.
Residents of Narva with both Estonian and Russian citizenships can still cross the bridge on foot for day trips.
Russians settled in the coastal town after it was heavily bombed during World War Two, forcing Estonian natives to flee west.
Once it was rebuilt by the Soviet Union, Russians moved in until the super-state dissolved in 1991.
It means Russian is still the main language spoken in Narva while some locals celebrate Russian holidays and sympathise with Kremlin dictator Putin.
One Russian-born Narva resident, Alexander, said he was not worried about the prospect of Russia invading and claimed supporting Ukraine was a form of “propaganda”.
UK, US & Russia’s alliance in WW2
IN World War 2, the three great Allied powers – the UK, US and Soviet Union formed an alliance that was key to securing victory of Nazi Germany.
On New Year’s Day in 1942, all three nations signed the United Nations Declaration to join together to fight the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan).
The ‘Big Three’ gathered together in Yalta in February 1945 as they were closing in on Germany from both the east and west with very different goals.
Soviet forces pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the German Reichstag in 1945.
The alliance ended after the Nazi’s unconditional surrender came into force at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945.
The Soviet Union lost about 27 million people in the war, an estimate that many historians consider conservative, scarring virtually every family.
In his ranting speech today, Putin said: “In the West, they would like to forget the lessons of the Second World War,” adding that Russia honoured all the allies involved in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
However he failed to mention these allies by name, instead praising the Chinese people’s fight against Japanese imperialism.
Putin added: “But we remember that the fate of mankind was decided in the grand battles near Moscow and Leningrad, Rzhev, Stalingrad, Kursk and Kharkiv, near Minsk, Smolensk and Kyiv, in heavy, bloody battles from Murmansk to the Caucasus and Crimea.”
The 37-year-old said: “I support Russia. I don’t agree with the position of the Estonian state. I condemn it.
“Supporting Ukraine only harms the country and our security. I don’t believe our authorities and propaganda.
“I believe that public opinion is being manipulated (to support Ukraine) in order to distract people from the reality.”
He added: “I want to wish you a happy Victory Day, because without this neither of our countries would exist.”
But British ex-pat Jeff Green said: “Everyone here is petrified of Russia invading but I don’t think it will ever happen.
“If Mr Putin wanted to take control of this city, he could drop 5,000 paras in and take it overnight. He could have done it any time he wanted.
Jeff, 77, who moved to Narva from Aldershot in 2018, continued: “The reason it will never happen now is because Finland and Sweden are in Nato.
“They have a pretty good air force and if Russia came across the border there would be a response in minutes.”
The Kremlin last threatened Narva in 2022 when Putin said he considered the city to be a historical Russian territory.
But Narva’s defiant mayor, Jaan Toots, told The Sun: “It will not happen because there would be big consequences as we are part of Nato.”
He added: “There is a danger and there always will be.
“In our past there have been several countries (here)… Denmark, Sweden, Russia, so there were a lot of owners of our land.
“In 1944 this land was taken from us by the Russian city on the other side.
“Russia annexed the land from us, not vice-versa.”
The mayor continued: “We can develop our security and our protection. Last year we spent not two per cent of our GDP, but already three per cent.”
In February, the Estonian secret police arrested ten alleged Russian actors on suspicion of plotting to attack the cars of a government minister and a prominent journalist.
Asked whether he was worried he could become a target for Kremlin agents, Mr Toots said: “I am not afraid. There is no problem”.
It comes less as Nato launches the Swift Response exercise at Tapa Army Base today (FRI).
The huge cross-country military drill – including air assaults, live-fire exercises and multinational training – is designed to simulate a response to an enemy state.
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